Technical Field
This disclosure generally relates to wirelessly detectable objects useful in medical procedures such as surgeries, birth deliveries, and other procedures.
Description of the Related Art
It is often useful or important to be able to determine the presence or absence of a foreign object.
For example, it is important to determine whether objects associated with a medical procedure, for instance surgery, are present in a patient's body before completion of the medical procedure. Such objects may take a variety of forms. For example, the objects may take the form of instruments, for instance scalpels, scissors, forceps, hemostats, and/or clamps. Also for example, the objects may take the form of related accessories and/or disposable objects, for instance surgical sponges, gauzes, and/or pads. Failure to locate an object before closing the patient may require additional surgery, and in some instances may have serious adverse medical consequences.
Some hospitals have instituted procedures, which include checklists or requiring multiple counts to be performed to track the use and return of objects during surgery. Such a manual approach is inefficient, requiring the time of highly trained personnel, and is prone to error.
Another approach employs transponders and a wireless interrogation and detection system. Such an approach employs wireless transponders which are attached to various objects used during surgery. The interrogation and detection system may include a transmitter that emits pulsed wideband wireless signals (e.g., radio or microwave frequency) and a detector for detecting wireless signals returned by the transponders in response to the emitted pulsed wideband signals. Such an automated system may advantageously increase accuracy while reducing the amount of time required of highly trained and highly compensated personnel. Examples of such an approach are discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,026,818, issued Feb. 22, 2000, and U.S. Patent Publication No. US 2004/0250819, published Dec. 16, 2004.
Commercial implementation of such an automated system requires that the overall system be cost effective and highly accurate. In particular, false negatives must be avoided to ensure that objects are not mistakenly left in the patient. The overall automated system requires a large number of transponders, since at least one transponder is carried, attached or otherwise coupled to each object which may or will be used in surgery. Consequently, the transponders and devices for carrying, attaching or coupling the transponder to the object should be inexpensive. In addition, such inexpensive devices must allow accurate detection and thus not made of metallic materials. Otherwise, if the object and/or the device carrying the transponder is metallic or other metallic objects are present in the body, a transponder that is in fact present may not be able to be detected as a result of the metallic object acting as a Faraday shield or otherwise interfering with transponder communications. The transponder and/or device should be capable of undergoing sterilization.
Moreover, transponders are typically attached or otherwise coupled to individual objects, such as gauzes and lap sponges, one piece of object at a time. That is, a transponder is attached or otherwise coupled to a piece of gauze or lap sponge from a quantity of individual pieces of gauzes or lap sponges. In some cases, this may involve unpacking the gauzes or lap sponges from the package they are provided in before transponders are individually attached or otherwise coupled to each of the gauzes or lap sponges. Further, in certain cases, each piece of gauze or lap sponge may need to be unfolded first before the corresponding transponder is attached to it. These additional steps add undesirable time and costs. Consequently, a new inexpensive device for attaching or otherwise coupling a transponder to an object to be used in a medical procedure, and a new method of attaching or coupling such device and transponder to such an object is highly desirable.